Closing summary
- 370 people were arrested in the protests against a controversial security law imposed by Beijing, giving authorities sweeping powers to crack down on dissent and allowing China new levels of control over Hong Kong.
- Ten of those arrested were detained under the new law, including a man with a Hong Kong independence flag, a woman holding a sign displaying the British flag and a 15-year-old girl, who was waving a Hong Kong independence flag.
- Police in Hong Kong fired teargas, pepper balls, rubber bullets and used water cannons in an attempt to disperse the thousands of protesters on Hong Kong’s streets.
- The British prime minister, Boris Johnson, denounced the law as a breach of its international treaty with China, while the UK foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, described it as a “grave and deeply disturbing step”.
- Johnson pledged to introduce a new five-year visa that would make Hong Kong’s 2.9 million citizens eligible to live and work in the UK and apply for citizenship.
- The law has also been condemned by governments including those of the US, Australia and Japan.
- Amnesty International called the security law a “far-reaching threat to Hong Kong’s freedoms”.
- Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who founded the popular Apple Daily newspaper and is an outspoken pro-democracy activist, said that the enactment of the new security law meant that “Hong Kong is dead”.
- However, Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, called the law “the most important development in relations” between Hong Kong and China since the 1997 handover. She said that the purpose of the legislation “was not just to punish but also to deter”, and that some human rights were “not absolute”.
That’s all from the liveblog today. You can read the full story here:
And my colleague Lily Kuo takes a look at some of the most concerning parts of the new law in this analysis:
Updated
Hong Kong police say 370 people arrested
In a Facebook post, Hong Kong police confirmed that they arrested a total of 370 people on various charges, including unlawful assembly, possession of weapons and violating the new security law.
Police said 10 people were arrested under the law, including a man with a Hong Kong independence flag and a woman holding a sign displaying the British flag and calling for Hong Kong’s independence all violations of the law that took effect Tuesday night. Others were detained for possessing items advocating independence.
Updated
Boris Johnson says China is breaching treaty with UK
Boris Johnson denounced China’s imposition of a security law on Hong Kong as a “clear and serious” violation of its treaty with Britain, vowing to introduce a bespoke five-year visa for as many as 2.9 million Hong Kong citizens with British national (overseas) status.
Speaking at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday he said the law introduced by the Chinese government constituted a clear and serious breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, signed in 1984 and aimed at smoothing the transition when the territory was handed back to China in 1997.
The UK believes Beijing’s move violates Hong Kong’s autonomy and is in direct conflict with the territory’s Basic Law, its mini-constitution. The law also threatens the freedoms and rights protected by the joint declaration.
The prime minister said: “We have made clear that if China continued down this path we would introduce a new route to those with British national (overseas) status to enter the UK granting them limited leave to remain with the ability to live and work in the UK and thereafter to apply for citizenship, and that is precisely what we will do now.”
You can read the full story here:
Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who founded the popular Apple Daily newspaper and is an outspoken pro-democracy activist, said that the enactment of the new security law meant that “Hong Kong is dead”.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Lai said: “It’s worse than the worst scenario imagined. Hong Kong is totally subdued, totally under control.”
Lai predicted that many of his fellow pro-democracy activists would be scared into submission by the law, where anyone suspected of taking part in subversive, secessionist or terrorist activities, as well as colluding with foreign forces to intervene in the city’s affairs, could face a maximum punishment of life imprisonment. In some cases, mainland China will assume jurisdiction and suspects could be sent there for trial.
“We will have to see how many of us are left in the fighting camp,” he said. “This is going to be a very different society. I don’t think Hong Kong people, who are used to freedom and rule of law, will be able to adjust.”
Lai predicted many people would leave but said he had no intention of moving abroad for safety.
“I cannot (leave). If I leave, not only do I disgrace myself, I’d discredit Apple Daily, I’d undermine the solidarity of the democratic movement.”
Updated
A statement by Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific regional director Nicholas Bequelin, described the new security law as a “far-reaching threat to Hong Kong’s freedoms”.
“With its vague language and provisions for secret trials, handpicked judges and mainland security agencies operating freely in the city, the law is wide open to politically motivated, capricious and arbitrary interpretation by the authorities,” he said.
“Hongkongers are facing an assault by the Beijing authorities and the Hong Kong government on freedoms they have long enjoyed. Given how draconian the law is, the most effective way to protect people in Hong Kong from repression is to ensure strict adherence to human rights.”
Summary
- More than 300 protesters have been arrested, while police have fired teargas, pepper spray and water cannon at thousands of people who turned out today to oppose a national security law imposed by Beijing.
- The law was condemned by the British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, as a “grave and deeply disturbing step”. Up to 3 million people in Hong Kong could be eligible to live, work or study in the UK, under a bespoke immigration system, he said. The law has also been condemned by governments including those of the US, Australia and Japan.
- Of the hundreds of people arrested on Wednesday, nine were detained for offences relating to the new security law, such as holding signs or flags advocating for Hong Kong independence. Among them, was a 15-year-old girl, who was waving a Hong Kong independence flag.
- During the protests, police were seen pinning protesters to the ground, shooting pepper balls at people who heckled them, and targeting journalists with water cannon and rounds of pepper spray.
- Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, called the law “the most important development in relations” between Hong Kong and China since the 1997 handover. She said that the purpose of the legislation “was not just to punish but also to deter”, and that some human rights were “not absolute”.
- Shen Chunyao, the director of the National People’s Congress legislative affairs commission, rejected the international condemnation and threats of sanctions as “unwarranted accusations” and the “logic of bandits”. He said the law was “a perfect combination of adhering to the one country prerequisite and respecting the differences of two systems”.
I’m now handing over to my colleague in London, Hannah Ellis-Petersen.
Updated
British MPs have called on the government to rethink its strategy and relationship with China.
Conservative former party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said it was “time to hit them in the one place that China cares about, which is its economy”.
Duncan Smith told the Commons: “We run to China to buy goods and to invest, it is time for us now to review every single programme here in the UK and around the free world.
“We learnt a lesson 80 years ago about appeasement of dictators, maybe that should be applied today.”
In a question directed at the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, Conservative MP Sir Bernard Jenkin asked: “What can we learn from the disastrous mistake of the government just a few years ago who thought we were embarking on some new golden era with this dictatorship?”
Updated
Speaking at prime minister’s questions, Boris Johnson accused China of a “clear and serious breach” of a key treaty with Britain by imposing the new national security law on the territory.
Johnson told the Commons: “The enactment and imposition of this national security law constitutes a clear and serious breach of the Sino-British joint declaration.”
“It violates Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy and is in direct conflict with Hong Kong basic law,” added Johnson.
“We made clear that if China continues down this path we would introduce a new route for those with British national (overseas) status to enter the UK, granting them limited leave to remain, with the ability to live and work in the UK and thereafter to apply for citizenship - and that is precisely what we will do.”
Updated
Scenes from Hong Kong’s streets
Updated
Lord Patten, Hong Kong’s last British governor before the 1997 handover, has described the new security law as Orwellian.
“Heaven knows how it will affect the ability of journalists to report what’s happening in Hong Kong,” he told BBC Radio 4’s World at One.
The big game starts now – what we’ve seen from China is a doubling down in their aggressive and loutish behaviour all around the world and we’ve really got to work… with allies, not to start a cold war but to form a group of countries who will say: ‘if you behave in this appalling fashion, China, we’re going to call you out.’
You can lock up people, you can’t lock up ideas. I still believe that the belief in freedom and the rule of law is going to have a longer lifespan than Xi Jinping’s extremely unpleasant, dictatorial, totalitarian communism.”
Updated
Up to 3 million people in Hong Kong could be eligible to live, work or study in the UK, under a bespoke immigration system announced earlier. But legal experts have questioned how much security this scheme will offer Hongkongers.
Kathryn Bradbury, partner and head of citizenship and immigration at the law firm Payne Hicks Beach, pointed out that the path to citizenship would take years and that immigration criteria could change.
“This lacks certainty and would be extremely costly in home office application fees of over £10,000. It would be much more equitable to simply confer full British citizenship to these persons given their BNO status,” added Bradbury.
The Guardian’s Verna Yu reports from Hong Kong:
In Causeway Bay, some protesters were digging up bricks from pavements and placing them and other objects on the ground to block roads. Some set fire to objects on the streets. Police fired multiple rounds of pepper balls after protesters yelled at them. A water cannon, armoured vehicle and several police vehicles later arrived. A riot police officer fired pepper balls towards the crowds from an armoured vehicle and also fired at a group of journalists ordering them to leave.
Outside the Time Square shopping centre, several hundred gathered and yelled: “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times,” and some waved pro-independence flags. Police said earlier people who shouted pro-independence slogans could be charged with national security crimes. The national security law also stipulates that arson is one of the acts that amount to terrorism, which is punishable by jail terms between three to 10 years.
Riot police down on Percival St clearing roadblocks and a pile of cardboard in one of them was lit. pic.twitter.com/42iqathh0O
— Xinqi Su 蘇昕琪 (@XinqiSu) July 1, 2020
Updated
Hong Kong police have issued a statement, instructing crowds to “stop all illegal acts immediately”.
Since noon today, crowds have been gathering and chanting slogans in the vicinity of Causeway Bay and Wan Chai. They blocked roads, set fires and vandalised public facilities and shops. Although police have adopted a measured and restrained approach throughout, and gave multiple verbal warnings to the crowds, the crowds refused to follow police instruction and continued to block roads and make damages in the area.
Updated
More than 300 arrested, Hong Kong police confirm
More than 300 people have now been arrested, including nine people who have been detained under the new security law.
Earlier, police said a 15-year-old girl who had waved an independence flag was among those arrested under the new law.
#BREAKING More than 300 people have been arrested in #HongKong so far for offences like unlawful assemblies, disorderly conduct in public places, furious driving, and breach of the #NationalSecurityLaw, which accounted for 9 arrests (5 males & 4 females).
— Hong Kong Police Force (@hkpoliceforce) July 1, 2020
Police have stormed Times Square shopping mall, deploying pepper spray and pepper balls. Part of the mall has been cordened off.
Raptors lead a boy away after they storm shopping mall Times Square. It’a feeling tense right now. pic.twitter.com/p8mBruc17o
— Laura Westbrook (@LauraWestbrook) July 1, 2020
The British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has given more information about the “bespoke” immigration route which will be made available to people in Hong Kong with a British national overseas passport.
Under this system, the UK will grant eligible Hongkongers five years’ leave to remain, with a right to work or study. After these five years, people will be able to apply for settled status and, then, after a further 12 months, they will be able to apply for citizenship.
He said this route had been established in light of the UK’s historical commitment to Hong Kong. The introduction of the new security law was a “grave and deeply disturbing step”, he said.
“China through this national security legislation is not living up to its promises to the people of Hong Kong. We will live up to our promises to them.”
Updated
The British prime minister, Boris Johnson, has said the new security law in Hong Kong is a clear breach of China’s obligations.
He added that the UK would now create a new route for people in Hong Kong, with a British national overseas passport to come to the UK and have a path to citizenship.
Updated
UK extends residence rights of 3 million eligible Hong Kongers
The British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has accused China of a “clear and serious violation” of a treaty forged with the UK by imposing national security legislation on Hong Kong.
He said the UK would “honour” its commitment to citizens of the former British colony. The UK could extend the right for nearly 3 million Hongkongers to come to the UK.
Raab said on Wednesday Beijing had breached the joint declaration signed between the UK and China to protect freedoms in the territory by enacting the controversial legislation.
Updated
Protesters have been rounded up by the police on Thomson Road, Wan Chai, the South China Morning Post has reported.
A group of 87 people have been taken to police vehicles on Thomson Road, Wan Chai, on a day of protest against the national security law Beijing has imposed on Hong Kong.
— SCMP Hong Kong (@SCMPHongKong) July 1, 2020
Video: SCMP/Zoe Low pic.twitter.com/XCMmMdWhWp
Updated
Here is the Guardian’s latest video report on today’s protests:
Teenage girl arrested for waving independence flag
A 15-year-old girl was among the three female protesters arrested under the new security law. The teenager was arrested for waving a Hong Kong independence flag on Lee Garden Road, Causeway Bay, according to a police statement.
Updated
Hong Kong police have confirmed that three women, arrested for showing independence slogans, are among seven people suspected of violating the new security law.
In total, more than 180 people have been arrested on various charges.
Three females were arrested respectively for showing materials with #HKIndependence slogans in #CausewayBay, violating #NSL. Anyone who organises, plans, commits or participates in committing secession or undermining national unification shall be guilty of an offence. pic.twitter.com/SB3vYQyiha
— Hong Kong Police Force (@hkpoliceforce) July 1, 2020
Updated
Police again appear to deliberately target a reporter:
Police water canon maliciously targets reporter on Hennessy Road. pic.twitter.com/kxeEOqtaUj
— Ryan Ho Kilpatrick 何松濤 (@rhokilpatrick) July 1, 2020
Updated
Outside Times Square, protesters raise their hands and chant “One Nation, One Hong Kong”:
#NOW Hundreds in defiance outside Times Square in Causeway Bay and chanted slogans including “One Nation, One Hong Kong”, in protest of the new national security law pic.twitter.com/98CwsKm6ap
— Chan Ho-him (@ThomasHHChan) July 1, 2020
Updated
Attacks on reporters condemned by Hong Kong Journalist Association
The Hong Kong Journalist Association has released a statement condemning “police attacks on journalists” during the protests today. According to the association, several reporters were shot with water cannon laced with teargas while interviewing protesters.
Over the last year of protests, the police have increasingly targeted journalists as well as blocking them from shooting video or photos of arrests and police actions. Footage from scenes today showed journalists being shot with pepper spray and water cannon. One video shows what appeared to be a video journalist standing on a sidewalk shot at close range by a water cannon, knocking him to the ground.
The footage has gone viral on Telegram. A person who appears to be a videographer is shot by police water cannon at a close distance and severely hit the ground. Luckily, he has his helmet on. And it helps absorb the shock. #HongKongProtests pic.twitter.com/jLBGkMrH8b
— Ezra Cheung (@ezracheungtoto) July 1, 2020
“The association strongly condemns the police for attacking journalists.. and calls the police to immediately stop all obstruction, interference or violence against journalists,” it said in a statement on Facebook.
Updated
Lily Kuo, the Guardian’s Beijing bureau chief, has analysed the most concerning parts of the new security law:
Beijing has imposed a raft of national security rules on Hong Kong, ushering in a new chapter of Chinese control over the semi-autonomous territory once known as a haven of political freedom and civil liberty.
Chinese and Hong Kong officials have said the law would target only a “narrow set” of behaviours, but the full text of the legislation – released only after it was enacted late on Tuesday – shows it covers a broad range of activities under vaguely defined crimes related to security. The harshest penalties are life in prison.
Legal experts say the most worrying aspect of the legislation is that it brings Chinese law and national security agencies to Hong Kong, eliminating the firewall separating it from mainland China under the “one country, two systems” framework. Others say it aims to fundamentally change Hong Kong society with requirements for “national security education” in schools, the media, and the internet.
You can read the full story here.
Updated
Footage shows someone who appears to be a filmmaker fall to the ground as they are shot by a water cannon at a close distance.
The footage has gone viral on Telegram. A person who appears to be a videographer is shot by police water cannon at a close distance and severely hit the ground. Luckily, he has his helmet on. And it helps absorb the shock. #HongKongProtests pic.twitter.com/jLBGkMrH8b
— Ezra Cheung (@ezracheungtoto) July 1, 2020
Updated
In Tin Hau, the window of a Starbucks, run by a franchise company seen as pro-China, has been smashed.
A glass window of a Starbucks in Tin Hau was smashed. The coffee chain was a target of vandalism last year, after the daughter of its Hong Kong owner denounced aggressive protest tactics at the United Nations. pic.twitter.com/l9mAiTqe1u
— Tiffany May (@nytmay) July 1, 2020
Updated
Climate activist Greta Thunberg is the latest public figure to express support for protesters.
My thoughts are with the people of Hong Kong. https://t.co/OMlw9XxaSY
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) July 1, 2020
Updated
More than 180 people arrested
Police have confirmed they are making more arrests, and issue another warning to protesters.
#BREAKING: Over 180 have been arrested for participating in unauthorised assemblies, disorderly conduct, possession of offensive weapon and other related offences, including 7 for suspectedly violating #NationalSecurityLaw. Arrest action is underway. Stop breaking the law.
— Hong Kong Police Force (@hkpoliceforce) July 1, 2020
Updated
Canada has warned its citizens in Hong Kong that they faced a higher risk of arbitrary detention and extradition to mainland China following the introduction of the new law.
The warning illustrates Western governments’ heightened concern for citizens under the new law that criminalizes subversion, secession, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces, reports Agence France-Presse.
“You may be at increased risk of arbitrary detention on national security grounds and possible extradition to mainland China,” Canada wrote in an updated travel advisory.
In response, China said Canada’s actions were “completely unreasonable.”
US will 'not stand idly by' - Pompeo
The US, Japan and Australia are the latest to comment on the security laws China has imposed on Hong Kong.
- “The CCP promised Hong Kong 50 years of freedom to the Hong Kong people, and gave them only 23,” said US secretary of state Mike Pompeo. Echoing the rhetoric of Beijing voiced earlier this year, Pompeo said the US would “not stand idly by while China swallows Hong Kong into its authoritarian maw.”
- Japan’s defence minister, Taro Kono, has warned China’s “unilateral attempt to change the status quo” might jeopardise a planned state visit by Xi Jinping.
- Australia’s foreign minister, Marise Payne, expressed “deep concern”. “The people of Hong Kong will make their own assessments of how this decision will affect their city’s future,” said Payne. “The eyes of the world will remain on Hong Kong.”
- “If you’ve ever said anything that might offend the PRC [People’s Republic of China] or Hong Kong authorities, stay out of Hong Kong,” said Donald Clarke, law professor at George Washington University, on the law’s broad reach for anyone anywhere in the world
Updated
Security law is a “birthday gift” for Hong Kong - Beijing official
The latest reaction from Beijing:
- Zhang Xiaoming, executive director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office said the law was a “birthday gift” for Hong Kong, and would be “a turning point” which put the city back on track for development.
- Zhang said the law marked “a milestone in advancing the cause of ‘one country two systems’, and the law was the most important legislation the central government has enacted besides Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law. He said the new law was a “sword of damocles hanging over a tiny group of criminals who want to interfere in Hong Kong affairs”.
- Officials confirmed that someone travelling overseas to successfully lobby for sanctions could be charged with foreign collusion offences, or that provoking hatred of police – by spreading “rumours” of violence for instance - could be a national security offence.
Here is some more footage of the crowds gathered at Causeway Bay
Even with the National Security Law passed HK people are still coming out in the thousands pic.twitter.com/8LwjAwjN2x
— Pak Yiu (@pakwayne) July 1, 2020
Updated
What have people said today?
Here are the latest statements from officials in Hong Kong:
- Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam said the laws were “the most important development in relations between central - HKSAR since the handover”. It was “constitutional, lawful, sensible and reasonable”, she said.
- Lam later told press the purpose of the legislation “was not just to punish, but also to deter”. Asked about threats to the press, Lam said “criticism comes under freedom of speech”. Lam said if journalists criticised the government as part of their work she couldn’t see why that would be an offence, but if the reporter was “involved in organising or colluding… that is another matter.” She said some internationally enshrined human rights were “not absolute”.
- Lam warned people “not to test our bottom line”, noting some offences carried a sentence of life in prison.
- Hong Kong police were ready for day one with official warning flags that chanting slogans or waving flags could see people arrested and charged under the new laws. They asked TV and radio stations to broadcast warnings that shouting independence slogans was inciting or abetting others to commit secession.
Those who hold banners, chant slogans or engage in other activities that attempt to split the country or subvert state power may face detention or prosecution under the #NationalSecurityLaw: #HK police pic.twitter.com/niQ9SAn2D2
— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) July 1, 2020
- Hong Kong Secretary of Security John Lee was explicit about the law’s aims to crush any community sentiments for independence. “With education prevention and enforcement we can turn the tide to let people know that protection on national security is everybody’s responsibility, and that advocacy for independence in Hong Kong is against the law.” He defended police already arresting people under a law no one was familiar with. “We will do education, but if something has outrageously broken the Hong Kong law, then the police have a duty to take action.”
- Secretary of Justice Teresa Cheng said her department is legislated to control all the prosecutorial decisions “free from any interference”. “Therefore anyone who attempts to interfere or say ‘forget about the evidence just proceed to prosecute’, of course that won’t be listened to’.”
Police are using pepper balls and water canons to try to break up protesters.
#HK Multiple rounds of pepper balls fired in Causeway Bay as riot police attempted to disperse crowd gathering nearby pic.twitter.com/sDJorqmF0j
— Chan Ho-him (@ThomasHHChan) July 1, 2020
A man on pedestrian was shot by water cannon and fell to the ground. pic.twitter.com/ZH5vMwiRWX
— Xinqi Su 蘇昕琪 (@XinqiSu) July 1, 2020
Updated
We would like to hear from people from Hong Kong on how they feel about the new security law. Your responses are secure as the form is encrypted and only the Guardian has access to your contributions. You can get in touch using the link below.
Police warn protesters to leave or face arrest
Protesters in Causeway are chanting in unison: “Hong Kong independence!” and cursing police on a main street in Causeway Bay. Police officers who have formed a check line are holding up a blue flag warning people to leave or face arrests. Police are shooting pepper balls at protesters.
Police have brought ten people out of a building in Causeway Bay and lined them up against a wall to search them. They have just been led away by police. Meanwhile, police officers have ordered a number of people to sit on the ground at a tram stop and they are searching their belongings.
Updated
Hong Kong police have asked TV and radio stations to broadcast warnings that shouting independence slogans is equivalent to inciting or abetting others to commit secession.
Police request radio and TV stations to broadcast and repeat at suitable intervals the slogan "Hong Kong independence, the only way out". https://t.co/Qy0MXpa5Zt pic.twitter.com/Oa2re7U75W
— Mary Hui (@maryhui) July 1, 2020
Protests break out in Hong Kong on first day under national security laws
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of Hong Kong, where, on the territory’s first day under controversial national security laws, crowds have defied a ban on protests and gathered on the streets of the busy shopping district Causeway Bay.
Large numbers of riot police are present, and water cannon vehicles have been seen driving towards crowds. Police have fired pepper balls, and held up blue flags to disperse protesters, warning they would soon carry out arrests.
The national security laws, imposed by Beijing, will give sweeping powers to the Chinese government and, critics fear, crush freedoms in the territory. China confirmed that some suspects could be extradited to the mainland under the new rules.
My colleagues Verna Yu, Lily Kuo and Helen Davidson will be reporting the latest developments. Read our full report here, and follow our live blog for updates.
Updated
